Émile-Louis Truffot

Harold Charles Moffatt (1859-1945), Hamptworth Lodge, Salisbury, UK;

Thence by inheritance to his heirs, until 2018;

Tennants Auctioneers, London, 21 July 2018;

With Tomasso Brothers, London, March 18, 2019;

From whom acquired by Aso O. Tavitian.

S. Lami, Dictionnaire des Sculpteurs de L’École Française, vol. IV, Paris 1921, pp. 324-327.

Paris, Palais des Champs-Élysées, Salon, 1 May 1883;

Paris, Palais des Champs-Élysées, Exposition nationale des beaux-arts, 13 September - 31 October 1883, no. 1129.

This female warrior stands resolutely, her weapon in hand, embracing the vulnerability of her nudity while she stares defiantly into the distance.

Executed by Émile-Louis Truffot in 1883, this sculpture can be read as a product of 19th century globalization and Europe's fascination with the then-burgeoning field of ethnography. Truffot, like his fellow artists Charles-Henri-Joseph Cordier and Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, was interested in exploring and studying other peoples and civilizations, which he did through his sculpture. Truffot chose to employ racialized motifs, such as overt nudity and exotic jewelry, in depicting his subjects, aesthetics also used by Cordier and Carpeaux.

Truffot's Salon debut was in 1862. This cast of Amazone Lybienne was presented at both the Salon of 1883 and the Exposition Nationale des Beaux-Arts, held that same year.¹

¹S. Lami, p. 326.